


Nightmare at 254 Miles

by lifeaftermeteor



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aliens, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Galaxy Garrison, Gen, Horror, Minor Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Monsters, Pre-Canon, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Pre-Season/Series 01, Science Fiction, Shiro (Voltron)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-07 05:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21452815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeaftermeteor/pseuds/lifeaftermeteor
Summary: En route back to Earth from the International Space Station, 200+ miles above Earth’s surface, Shiro notices their mission commander growing increasingly agitated. As their destination looms, the commander’s madness grows, leading to a near-catastrophe. Taking over the controls, Shiro safely guides the crew home in record time.  But the truth is...it’s easier to beat orbital velocity records when you’re trying to burn a monster off your wing during re-entry.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	Nightmare at 254 Miles

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2019 Voltron Halloween Zine, Spellbound. Though not a true crossover or alternate universe, this fic is heavily inspired by the classic Twilight Zone episode, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” The swap out for 254mi is due to the ISS orbit / altitude. Easter Eggs throughout for the original episode’s casting.

Commander Sam Holt entered the room. Shiro promptly jumped to his feet and saluted, a response that felt second nature, drilled into him for years. Holt saluted briefly in return and said, “At ease. Have a seat.” He strode to the chair opposite Shiro and sat down, dropping a folder on the table between them. After a beat, he said, “I’m trying to understand what happened up there.” 

Shiro felt the muscles in his jaw twitch and he swallowed tightly. “We’ve already made a full report—”

“I know. I’ve read it.” Holt tapped the folder between them.

“The Garrison doesn’t believe us.” It wasn’t a question.

“No,” Holt acknowledged. “There’s no evidence of what you said occurred. The damage to the _ Eudora _ is consistent with the... _ unconventional _re-entry.” 

That stung and only sowed more confusion for Shiro. How was that possible? They’d all seen it, heard it trying to get to them—but Holt was talking again.

“There’s nothing to point to besides eyewitness testimony. So no, the Galaxy Garrison doesn’t believe any of you.” He leaned forward then, crossing his arms on the table. “But I’m not the rest of the Galaxy Garrison. So help me understand. What happened up there?”

* * *

Shiro floated through the International Space Station, fighting the giddiness that threatened his professionalism. _ I’m in space _, the voice in his head chanted like a mantra. He’d been in space before—it was part of the natural progression of things in the Galaxy Garrison—and had been further from home too, thinking of last year’s supply run to the Jupiter observatory. A supply run to the ISS was run of the mill and the dullest of the dull in comparison. 

But even so, the childish glee persisted. He wondered if it would ever go away, if he’d ever manifest the stoicism that the rest of the ISS and the _ Eudora _ crews did as they went about their duties. Shiro suspected not as he halted his drifting down the main corridor and pushed himself into the observation compartment with its massive bay window. He didn’t think he could get over the view—the Earth brilliant and blue and so far below them, surrounded by a sea of black—and hoped he never would. _ Beautiful, _ he thought. 

He had joined the _ Eudora _ crew to get additional mission time, serving only as their flight engineer this time. But one day...one day it would be _ his _mission.

...so long as he could keep meeting the physical tests. His thoughts turning sour. The pain in his body was less up here without gravity working against him, but it hovered at the edges of his consciousness all the same. He had told Adam as much once, recalling the man's frown. Whereas Shiro had meant the comment to be reassuring, it seemed to only deepen his partner's concern. Shiro had made a note not to bring it up again. 

Shiro grimaced and forced his attention back to the window before him. He hooked a hand around a support bar and let his legs drift up, curling in on himself. This mission first. And then the next, and the next, and the next… _ Stubborn _, a voice in his head said, sounding far too much like Matt Holt, who he had left back on Earth. Shiro smiled.

“Hell of a view, isn’t it?”

Shiro turned to find the _ Eudora’s _pilot, Billy Cravat, drifting toward him. The older woman grinned wide and crooked as she pushed herself through the hatch and into the observation compartment. The sight of her made Shiro’s own smile brighten. He liked the pilot, always had when they had all been down on Earth, and Shiro had started to see her as a mentor as they prepared for the supply run. A mentor, or perhaps a future self he wouldn’t actually become. Shiro tried not to think about that part.

“I don’t care what the rest of ‘em say—you never do get used to it,” Cravat continued as she came up beside Shiro. “Don’t ever get cynical, Shiro. Space is _ the _place to be. Really kinda puts things in perspective.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence then, content to watch the planet pass below them. Blue oceans, entire continents, little galaxies of light and human civilization. 

After a time, however, his companion’s good mood seemed to falter. “Hey, I realize this might be coming out of left field but...can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Ma'am,” Shiro answered.

Cravat hesitated then. Her eyes avoided Shiro’s gaze, locked instead on the planet below. “Has...anyone said anything to you that sounded...out of sorts?”

Shiro’s brow furrowed. “‘Out of sorts,’ Ma'am?”

“Crazy.”

Shiro fought the cold feeling in his belly and thought back on their trip up to the ISS and the past two days aboard the station. Eventually he determined, “No. Unless you count Specialist Maynor saying she actually _ likes _the food up here.” Shiro grinned, hoping to alleviate his superior’s concerns.

Cravat nodded, thoughtful. Then, seeming to feel the need to explain, she said, “It’s important to monitor your crew’s mental state. We’re not far from home, but _ any _ space travel puts stress on the body and the mind. And the void is unforgiving, so mistakes are costly. In more ways than one.” She turned her eyes back to Shiro at last and said, “If anyone _ does _say anything, I want you to tell me, okay?”

Again that cold pit forming in his stomach. Shiro swallowed and nodded. But then he couldn’t help himself. “You mean beyond this conversation, correct Ma'am?”

Cravat smirked and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re a snarky one. I like that in pilots. You’re gonna go far, Shiro.” She then pushed herself away from the observation window and floated toward the hatch. “I’ll leave you to your ogling, but remember what I said.” 

And with that she was gone, leaving Shiro with his thoughts and the natural marvel 254 miles below.

* * *

All too soon, it was time to leave. Their supply run complete, guest video logs transmitted to the planet below, and a few medical and scientific studies concluded—“It’s so rare that we get to experiment on people who _ aren’t _ us,” the ISS chief science officer had told them—the _ Eudora _crew was ready to head home.

Pulling himself through the passage that led to the _ Eudora, _ Shiro happened upon their mission commander, Rich Matheson. The man had long since gone gray, his face showing the weariness of hard years gone by, long before Shiro's time. His blue eyes were trained on the void outside the station through a porthole in a nearby airlock hatch. His body was tense, his hand wrapped around a support bar with a white-knuckled grip. As Shiro drew closer, he could see beads of sweat at the man's temple, the standard-issue buzz cut doing little to hide the vein that protruded every time he clenched his jaw. 

Shiro slowed his approach with another support bar and asked, “Sir?” Matheson turned to face him, his eyes betraying his apparent confusion, betraying his apparent confusion and setting off warning bells in Shiro's head. He reflected back on his conversation with Cravat a few days prior and swallowed thickly. “Sir, are you alright?” he asked. 

“I'm fine,” Matheson replied, the words wound tight on his tongue. “I just—” He stopped himself before he could say more. 

Shiro pressed him all the same. “What is it, Sir?”

There was a heavy pause. But then Matheson said, “There's something out there.”

“Like debris?”

The commander shook his head. When he spoke again, the words were so quiet, almost conspiratory. “No, Shiro. Not debris. Something..._ alive _ . I saw it on our way up, disregarded it. It's been stalking the station— _ us _—the whole time we've been up here.”

Shiro suppressed the shudder that threatened to race up his spine. He glanced around them, searching for another member of the crew, but they were alone. Just him and their commander. Their commander...who was seeing things. “Sir,” Shiro began, keeping his voice level, “you know that's not possible. Nothing can survive the vacuum. It had to have been debris.” He paused but then asked before the man could respond, “Have you told Cravat?” Their pilot was the second-in-command and a long-time friend of Matheson's. If anything, she would know what to do. _ And likely already has suspicions, _Shiro mused to himself, reflecting back on their prior conversation.

But Matheson shook his head. He opened his mouth to say more, but his eyes locked on something over Shiro's shoulder. Turning, he found Cravat herself rounding a corner into the corridor and Shiro nearly sighed with relief. 

“Hey you two,” she said, coming up beside them. “We are go for departure. Let's blow this pop stand.”

Matheson nodded, his shoulders straightening as he assumed his leadership role once more. To Shiro, he instructed, “Hail Plaht. Let them know we're coming home.”

“Yes, Sir,” Shiro acknowledged but shot Cravat a heavy look. She tipped her head in the faintest of acknowledgement. Satisfied for the time being—and committing to talk to her privately once they were underway—Shiro turned and leveraged himself down the corridor toward the hatch that would lead into the _ Eudora _ itself. 

* * *

In the end, he never had the chance to talk to Cravat. 

Halfway between the ISS and home, Matheson launched from his seat, screaming at the window. In the commotion, Shiro didn’t see the high-powered nail gun until it was aimed at the window. Powerful enough to puncture the armored exterior shielding, it could just as easily damage the reinforced glass at this proximity. And really...all it needed was a crack—the vacuum would do the rest.

Cravat launched from her seat and tackled Matheson, pinning his arms to his sides before he could pull the trigger. They struggled in zero G, spinning and rebounding off of the flightdeck. Matheson cursed and shouted as Cravat wrangled the gun from his grasp, pushing the device away from them to render it comparatively harmless. 

Shaking off the last of his initial shock, Shiro pushed himself up and out of his own seat, grabbing the nail gun mid-air as he did so. The Garrison mission control in Plaht City was shouting through his earpiece, demanding a report. Cravat and Matheson tumbled through the entryway and the chaos spread into the mid-deck, their crewmates’ frightened exclamations joined Plaht’s. 

Matheson managed then to free his arms for only a moment. As Cravat struggled to regain her hold, the commander grabbed her wrist and delivered a devastating blow to her elbow. The pilot screamed in agony but only tightened her legs’ grip around the man’s body. “Sedate him! Sedate him now!” she shouted at their medical specialist. Ashen-faced, the man unfastened his harness and pushed himself over to the compartment with their first aid supplies.

Shiro meanwhile pushed away from the wall and latched onto Matheson, mirroring Cravat’s hold around the man to keep him secured as they drifted. The man’s eyes were wide and terrified, pupils dilated as he searched for some invisible foe. “It’s going to get in!” he cried at them, continuing to struggle. “Don’t you see it? Don’t you hear it?”

“There’s nothing there, Sir,” Shiro insisted. 

Matheson’s eyes locked on him and for one horrifying moment, Shiro found those eyes clear and conscious. A chill filled him. Matheson was very aware, not raving and delusional. And he was _ very _ afraid. “It’s going to get _ in!” _ he insisted again.

Before Shiro could say anything further, their medical specialist rejoined them and stuck a syringe in the exposed flesh of the man’s neck. He watched Matheson’s eyelids flutter as the sedative began to take effect. As his struggling subsided, Cravat and Shiro slowly released their grip and eased the man into the specialist’s arms. It was then that Shiro’s eyes swept the mid-deck and fell on the airlock. 

At the window, _ it _watched them.

Shiro reeled backward with a gasp but didn’t dare to check if the rest of the crew had noticed. Alive. Something alive. Outside in the void. Watching. 

_ Grinning. _

It blinked then, its eyes slitted like a goat, a frog perhaps. And _ teeth. _

And then it was gone, flitting away as if dropping beneath the crest of a wave or dipping on thermal winds. 

Shiro felt the muscles start to twitch, now on full alert as he turned back to the rest of the crew and caught sight of them drifting down the corridor toward the medical bay. Throat dry and tight, Shiro moved to follow them. 

The small lab left little space for the entirety of their crew. Matheson was heavily sedated but conscious, head lolling on his neck as the medical specialist secured him to a pallet. Cravat hovered nearby clutching her arm. A red stain had bloomed in her suit where the appendage was bent at an unnatural angle. 

“—come in, dammit!”

“Better answer the phone,” Cravat murmured, her voice tight with pain.

“_ Eudora _reads,” Shiro finally answered.

“What the _ hell _is happening up there?” Plaht demanded. 

“There’s been an...incident,” Shiro hedged. “Commander Matheson is down. Pilot Cravat is injured.”

“Report. In full.”

Shiro winced. “Standby.” He reached up and tapped the device at his ear, shutting off the microphone and pointedly ignored Plaht’s irate fuming. 

“He was talking to you,” Cravat said. As the medical specialist peeled off her suit’s sleeve to inspect the damage, she hissed in pain through clenched teeth. She growled in frustration and turned her eyes on Shiro. “Ahead of departure, he was talking to you. I saw the look you gave me before he sent you off. What did he tell you?”

“He told me he had seen something out there, Ma’am. Something alive.”

“And when were you two going to say something to the rest of us?” 

Shiro turned to look at one of the other mission specialists who had wrapped her slim arms around her waist defensively. Cravat shook her head. “Matheson’s one of the best, steady as they come. I didn’t think…” She shook her head. “I endangered the rest of you, and for that, I’m sorry. Important thing to do now is check in with Plaht and make sure we get home without further incident.”

“That will be...mmm—difficult.”

The rest of them turned to regard their commander, who chuckled darkly from under his restraints. Eyes unfocused, his gaze drifted over each of them in turn. “It’s still out there. I know. I know, I’ve seen it.” His attention landed then on Shiro and recognition sparked in his face. “And now you’ve seen it too.” Shiro swallowed thickly. 

“He’s not going to be commanding anything,” Cravat said with a mournful glance at her friend and teammate, “and I’m in no shape to fly the ship.” She looked up at Shiro and sighed. “I hear you’re a pilot.”

* * *

“Plaht come in, this is Cravat reporting with a shit-ton of pain killers and a broken arm that’s really not gonna like re-entry.”

“Good to hear from you Cravat. What’s Commander Matheson’s status?”

Shiro and Cravat exchanged a meaningful look across the flightdeck before the latter replied, “Sedated. We’ll need medical on the ground when we get there.”

“Roger that. With your broken arm, who has the conn?”

“That would be our Flight Engineer, Lieutenant Shirogane.”

“You ever fly a ship like the _ Eudora _, Lieutenant?”

Shiro took a deep breath. “Outside of sim time...that would be a negative, Plaht.”

“It handles just like the simulator,” Cravat assured him. Shiro turned to find her wearing a crooked grin. “Except if you screw up, you kill everybody.”

“Let’s avoid that outcome,” Plaht told them.

_ On that note… _“System checks complete. All systems green on this end,” Shiro reported. “You seeing the same Plaht?”

“We are. You’re cleared for re-entry procedure.” 

“Copy that.”

No sooner had they gotten underway than something slammed into their port side. A system alarm blared and Shiro only had a second to glance at it before Plaht hailed them again. “Report!” 

“Something hit us,” Cravat answered, reaching out with her good hand to silence the alarm and survey the visual report on-screen before them. Shouts from the rest of the crew reached their ears, carried up from mid-deck, as a dull thud echoed through the ship. Again and again, rhythmic. And with intent. “Correction, is _ still _hitting us. What the—”

Shiro opened his mouth to respond but was caught short. There! There it was. The thing drifted into view before them, massive and ethereal like some cosmic manta ray. Beside him, Cravat started cursing; before him, the creature propelled itself up onto the glass of the ship’s windshield. It spanned the length of it. Again, Shiro was struck into silence by the eyes that betrayed a vicious intelligence and the _ teeth _.

“The hell is _ that?” _

Shiro didn’t bother to voice the relief that flooded him knowing the older pilot saw the monstrosity too. “I don’t know,” Shiro answered over the system alarms that had begun to sound again.

“Maybe...maybe it’s not real?” Cravat sputtered. Her eyes went wide as she tracked the thing across their visual before it disappeared once more, this time toward the starboard side of the ship. “Maybe it’s a hallucination? Nothing can survive in the vacuum of space.” 

“Nothing _ we _ know,” Shiro argued. “But I’m going to trust the display and engineering.” He tapped the screen which clearly showed they had incurred serious damage to the hull...from the _ outside _. “If it wasn’t real, then why is it trying to burrow into the ship?”

“Status report!”

“If it eats through the shielding, we’re toast. Literally.”

“Then we’ll see if it can keep up,” Shiro said as he reached up, fingers hovering over their thrusters. 

Cravat took a breath before nodding. Shiro hit the button and heated up the engines. “Good news Plaht,” Cravat responded to mission control. “We’ve discovered sentient life in space. Bad news—it’s trying to hitch a ride.”

There was a momentous pause. “Come again?”

“Aliens, man! At least moderately intelligent and _ very _pissed we’re in its territory. We’re going to try to shake it loose.”

The banging resumed and shouts arose from the middeck. “Punch it!” Cravat ordered and Shiro engaged the thrusters. 

On the intercom, Plaht mission control was shouting again. “_ Eudora _what is happening? Why have you engaged thrusters? Why have you—?”

“Aliens!” Cravat answered again, sounding frustrated. To Shiro, she said, “Do not stop this shuttle. Get us into the atmosphere. _ Now.” _

“With pleasure,” Shiro ground out between clenched teeth. 

The _ Eudora _ accelerated towards the blue planet and from the void, an ethereal shriek of surprise echoed in his head. It was chasing them. 

As they entered the atmosphere, however, the ship turned almost sluggish. _ Too much drag. It’s got us. _ The alarms that flashed and whined on the dashboard before them confirmed as much: the thing had affixed itself to the wing. 

Shiro growled, the controls vibrating in his hands with the force of their re-entry. _ Burn it off! _ Against the force pressed into his chest, he raised a hand and pressed a button. Full thrusters. The systems whined in protest. And as the earth rose up to meet them, he could _ feel _their assailant screaming as it was rendered to ash, incinerated by the flames.

* * *

Shiro looked around the room but didn’t dare speak. It was the first time since landing that the crew of the _ Eudora _had all been in one place and a tense silence pervaded the empty air among them. The Garrison had swept them all up off the flightline and promptly into separate debriefing rooms. Judging by the dark circles under his crewmates’ eyes, none of them had slept much. His eyes landed on Cravat and found the pilot watching him just as intently, arm bound up in a sling. She gave Shiro an almost imperceptible nod. 

It was then that Shiro realized their commander was still missing. Before he could ask the others if they knew anything, the conference room’s door opened. They all came to their feet as a pair of Garrison Police entered, taking up a position flanking the door itself. Shiro felt his mouth go dry. _ Shit _.

Admiral Sanda stepped inside then, prompting smart salutes from the exhausted crew. She strode to the front of the room and took a seat at the head of the conference table, the rest of them following her lead and sitting back down.

“Commander Matheson is on indefinite medical leave,” she began, lacing her gloved fingers before her on the table top. “The damage to the _ Eudora _ is consistent with the risky re-entry procedure this crew executed. But it was an unfortunate necessity to bring him home as quickly as possible, and for that the Garrison and his family are indebted to you.” She then turned her steely eyes on each of them in turn and any reassurance Shiro may have had at the outset evaporated. “You were ordered to do so and forego usual procedures. The _ Eudora _ will be grounded while it undergoes repairs. _ You _ —” she said, emphasizing the word, “—will not speak further on the _ unique _elements of this mission beyond what I have just described. You will not discuss it with your family, your significant others, your friends, or any other Garrison personnel. You will not engage the media or anyone else on the matter. You will not engage in debate or discussion amongst yourselves. The mission is complete; your commander is receiving the best medical care available; and the case is closed. Do I make myself clear?” 

What could they do but nod? Message received, they were released at last and departed the facility which had been home for Shiro didn’t know how long. 

But out in the open air and under the night sky, Shiro filed in behind their pilot and hissed, “They’re _ burying _it.”

Cravat whirled on him to grab his arm with her uninjured hand, eyes bright and burning. “Better it than _ you _,” she said. “Leave it alone. Best forget about all of it, starting today.”

“But—”

“Drop it, Lieutenant. Now. That’s an order.”

Shiro clenched his teeth, startled into silence by a sudden, bitter realization: Cravat was scared. Maybe Shiro was too, judging by how he trembled. Shiro swallowed past the tightness in his throat and acknowledged, “As you say, Ma'am.”

At this, Cravat released him and turned, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand as she fell into line with the rest of the crew and walked away. Shiro found himself still rooted in-place, unable to bring himself to move forward just yet. 

Tilting his head back, he looked up into the night sky that stretched ever onward overhead. 


End file.
